1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of toilet seats and in particular to portable auxiliary toilet seats to provide sanitary and hygienic seating away from the home and to provide easy portability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A traveler, as well as others, often encounter unpleasant situations whereby it is absolutely essential to utilize an establishment's toilet facilities or restrooms and the facilities are otherwise than sanitary. To be sure, such experiences are distasteful notwithstanding the possible hazards involved concerning the transmission of communicable diseases. Blind persons are especially adversely affected by such situations because of their inherent inability to be able to even see if a facility is unsanitary let alone to be able to attempt to sanitize such a facility or to prevent from being contaminated by personal contact.
Indeed, even a facility which appears to be sanitary, is not necessarily so. Immediate prior use may render unsanitary, an otherwise sanitary facility. Consequently, the use of any toilet facility away from home is attendant with unavoidable risks.
One widely used prior art attempt to overcome the above-identified problem is the use of paper toilet seat covers which are most often provided in airplanes and other high-class establishments. Typically, such paper covers are available from dispensing apparatus within close proximity of the facility to be used. One paper cover is pulled from the dispenser and applied over the permanent toilet seat. Such covers, however, do not completely solve the above-stated problem. The paper covers do not usually stay in place, they often stick to a person's skin and do not conveniently allow for adjustment of positioning. Consequently, a person often chooses not to utilize the cover especially where the facility "appears" to be sanitary. And, when used, a certain amount of inconvenience and discomfort is still present.
There exists a class of prior art toilet seats which attempt to be compact, foldable, lightweight and convenient to utilize and transport. U.S. Pat. No. 396,803 is one early example of such class of toilet seats. The seat is segmented and joined by appropriate hinges. A clever feature of this inventive seat provides for adjustability of size to accommodate ". . . the size of the opening in the permanent seat or the posterior dimensions of the individual." U.S. Pat. No. 310,401 is is another early example of such class of seats. This example discloses unique hinging apparatus to provide both rigidity and collaspability. U.S. Pat. No. 1,156,629 is still another relatively early example of the prior art class of portable toilet seats which is pertinent to the instant invention. This portable toilet seat also discloses unique hinging apparatus to effectuate the foldability of the seat. U.S. Pat. No. 1,633,222 also discloses a unique hinging method comprising standard hinges in conjunction with tongue and groove connections so as to make the seat very compact when folded and not in use.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,742,650, the inventor utilizes thin segmented inner panels which are covered on top and bottom by thin plastic sheeting to achieve a very compact, easily foldable, portable toilet seat. The seat folds along lines created by the inner segmented panels. U.S. Pat. No. 2,443,068 discloses another flat covering for a permanent toilet seat. This example of covering or portable toilet seat includes suction cups and a spacer block on the underside thereof to aid in the prevention of lateral slippage when applied to the permanent seat. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,261,030 teaches a unique linking segment so that the individual segments may be collapsed and folded against each other without the necessity of a structural separation of the portions thereof.
All of the prior art portable and foldable toilet seats known to the present inventor suffer from similar deficiencies despite their claimed advantages. Any contamination, dirt, disease, etc., present on the permanent seat is or may be transferred to the underside of the portable toilet seat which then would necessarily contaminate the portable seat. No solution is offered for the removal of such dirt or contamination. In most of the cited examples, the bottom surfaces of the portable seat fold flat against each other so that such contamination is not transferred to the top surface of the seat. Still, it is not desirable for such contamination to be present because of the nature of the same and the very real probability of a person touching the underside surface of the seat or some other object, such as the container for the seat, becoming contaminated, and such other object being touched by the individual thereby indirectly transferring the contamination to an individual.
Most of the prior art portable toilet seats also suffer from being rather bulky and heavy when folded for storage. The example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,742,650, however, probably most successfully directly addresses this problem; but, suffers in other aspects such as transferring of contamination, lateral slippage, etc.
Thus, there still exists a definite need for a portable and foldable toilet seat for use with a permanent toilet seat in restroom facilities away from home, and for such a seat which eliminates the transferring of any contamination from the permanent seat to the portable seat, and for such a seat which is compact, foldable, lightweight, prevents lateral slippage when in use, is comfortable to use, and is convenient to store and transport.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable and foldable toilet seat which is easily foldable.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable and foldable toilet seat which is comfortable to use.
A further objectof the present invention is to provide a portable and foldable toilet seat which prevents forward and lateral slippage when in use.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a portable and foldable toilet seat which is compact when folded.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a lightweight portable and foldable toilet seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable and foldable toilet seat which is easy to store and transport when not in use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable and foldable toilet seat which conveniently allows for sanitizing to eliminate any contamination which might have been transferred from the permanent seat to the portable seat.